


Halloween

by ChemicalCinderCat



Series: Beetlejuice Stories [8]
Category: Beetlejuice (Cartoon 1989)
Genre: ...I'll see myself out, Angst, Basically just pure angst, F/M, Fire, Halloween, Hurt/Comfort, I guess you could say this story's pretty HOT, Older Lydia AU, Scare attempts, Slight fluff but not much, What can I say I just went all out with the angst in this oneshot, beetlebabes, haha get it, smoke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24517981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChemicalCinderCat/pseuds/ChemicalCinderCat
Summary: Beetlejuice challenges himself to try and scare Lydia on Halloween. However, as always with the Ghost With The Most, things get a little out of hand...
Relationships: Beetlejuice/Lydia Deetz
Series: Beetlejuice Stories [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721896
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this on Halloween, back in October, but I'm just now posting it here on Ao3. Happy EXTREMELY late Halloween everyone! >w<  
> This is a Beetlebabes story, meaning Lydia and Beetlejuice are dating. However, Lydia is an adult in this. Also, all of my Beetlejuice stories are based on the 1989 cartoon, in which Beetlejuice and Lydia were best friends when she was a kid, and Beetlejuice was not a pervert. If you haven't seen the cartoon, the personalities are similar enough you could still enjoy this story, I just wanted to specify that this is in no way pedophilia.

It had all started as a joke. A stupid, silly joke, not meant to be taken seriously. Lydia hadn't meant for Beetlejuice to take it as a challenge, but it happened anyways.

They were harmlessly watching scary movies one day at Beetlejuice's house, cuddling on the couch. Beetlejuice had his arm around Lydia, expecting her to get scared. They had been dating for a few months now, and the poltergeist was fully prepared for his girlfriend to jump and scream. He was ready to hold her tight.

Instead, it turned out that Lydia was the one who held Beetlejuice tight. He screamed every five minutes, and with every jump scare he was clinging to Lydia more and more. Lydia, on the other hand, didn't jump even once. Instead, she laughed the entire time. Whether it was at the movies or at Beetlejuice, the Ghost With the Most couldn't tell, but he was baffled nonetheless.

"Babes, tell me your secret! How do these movies not scare you?!" He asked, after they finished The Conjuring.

"Honestly, Beej, these aren't even scary movies. How do these make you jump so bad?"  
"They are scary movies, babes. If I weren't so used to scaring people myself, I would be terrified. And maybe even possibly have… nightmares."

"Beetlejuice, you're being dramatic. I guess I'm just unscarable."

Beetlejuice thought for a second, an idea forming in his mind. He started to smirk.

"We'll see, Babes, we'll see."

"What in the Neitherworld are you talking about, BJ? Please don't do anything stupid."

"Let's make a deal, Babes. If I can scare you before the end of Halloween, you owe me."

Lydia thought for a minute. There was no way anything Beetlejuice could do would scare her; She knew him too well. After having spent practically every day with him for years, she was pretty confident that she had seen all of his tricks. Besides, Halloween was tomorrow. So she simply smirked.

"You know what, Beej? You're on."

~~~

The next 24 hours were making Lydia regret ever agreeing to this. Beetlejuice would not leave her alone, trying hard to scare her, and getting more and more desperate as the day passed on. They had set some ground rules; Beetlejuice had until Midnight (when it technically wouldn't be Halloween anymore), but he wasn't allowed to hurt/mess with any of Lydia's friends who were coming over. In return, Lydia wasn't allowed to say his name three times to force him away.

Lydia was enjoying throwing up decorations all over her apartment and trying to find time to change into her costume in-between Beetlejuice's attempts. As she tried to get her sugar skull dress on, the lights in her apartment started flickering, before shutting off, and smoke came out of nowhere. Lydia rolled her eyes, amused at how hard Beetlejuice was trying. She didn't even flinch as the lights suddenly came back on to reveal a body hanging from her living room fan. 

"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, will you please come zip this for me?" Lydia asked. Said poltergeist groaned, transforming from a seemingly lifeless corpse back into himself. He flew behind her and zipped her dress up. Lydia rolled her eyes and sighed when he didn't come back in front of her. "Beej, don't be a pervert." She said, turning around.

"Sorry, Babes, I was just enjoying the view. I know I'm trying to scare you and all, but you're still my girlfriend."

"Wow," Said Lydia, "That's not something you hear everyday. Anyways, make yourself useful and stream these banners across the lights, will you?" She asked, tossing a roll of paper streamers to him. He ducked, letting the paper streamers fly over him and onto the couch.

"Sorry, Lyds, No-can-do, I still gotta scare you. Watch your back Babes." And with that, he was gone.

Lydia shook her head. She picked up the streamers on her couch and started hanging them up from one light to the next. A face suddenly sprang out at her from nowhere, gaining no reaction. When she was done with the streamers, Lydia went to put on her makeup. Instead of her reflection, staring back at her was a faceless monster eating what appeared to be a cat. Lydia simply walked away, using the mirror in her bedroom instead. When she was putting finishing touches on her apartment, there were eyeballs in her bowl of candy. She just ignored them, and grabbed a chocolate bar. 

With every new attempt to scare Lydia, Beetlejuice got more frustrated. What was she, a god or something?? No matter what he did, it didn't scare her. It wasn't human. She was just too comfortable around him.

Soon enough, Lydia's guests started to arrive. She had invited her two best friends growing up, and some new friends she had made at college. She didn't know them that well, (after all, she had only been in school for two months,) but she was certain they were all good people who she needed to get to know better. Beetlejuice, on the other hand, didn't like the fact that half of Lydia's new friends were guys, but then again, Lydia was sure that it was just because Beetlejuice was jealous. 

Speaking of Beetlejuice, as soon as Lydia's guests arrived, he just sulked in the corner, determined to find a way to scare Lydia. The party started at ten, so he had just under two hours to come up with something. Seeing Lydia and one of the assholes she invited to her party made Beetlejuice really mad. An idea occurred suddenly to him, and he smiled just a bit evilly as he teleported to the bathroom to set up his next form of amusement. _If she can play dirty, then so can I!_

About ten or so minutes later, Prudence left her Bff's side to go to the bathroom. She opened the door and immediately froze in shock, terror chilling her to the bone. What she was looking at made her heart stop in place as she closed the door, trying not to pass out. As soon as the door was shut, Beetlejuice could no longer hold in his laughter. He had been hoping to scare some sense into that guy Lydia had been flirting with, but he couldn't even be upset that it wasn't him. Prudence's reaction was priceless! She looked like she just about pissed herself! Now that was the kind of reaction he wanted from Lydia. Well, maybe not as extreme. He just wanted to scare her for the sake of his pride, he wasn't looking to traumatize his girlfriend.

Suddenly the door slammed opened, revealing a seemingly pissed off Lydia. She closed the door behind her and locked it, before looking at Beetlejuice. Never before had The Ghost With The Most seen his girlfriend so angry, especially towards him. It was kind of ironic if you thought about it; He had been trying so hard to scare her, and now he was scared of her! 

"Beetlejuice…" Lydia started, sounding surprisingly calm. Her tone did not match her facial expression at all. This was how he knew she was furious. "Why did Prudence practically pass out after trying to use the bathroom, claiming that there was a 'terribly gruesome corpse' in here?'" Beetlejuice gulped nervously. "You said you wouldn't mess with my guests!"

"Well, what about you, flirting with that guy?!" Beetlejuice asked, throwing his hands in the air. "Do you really expect me to watch you flirt with someone right in front of me, and not get mad?"

"What are you talking about? What guy?" Lydia asked. "Wait, do you mean Josh? BJ, Josh asked me out, and I turned him down. It was him flirting with me, not the other way around. Were you really mad about that? You should know by now that I would never cheat on you! I love you, Beej!" She stopped for a second, her facial expression softening, before glaring at him again. "But even if you did think that, that wouldn't give you an excuse to terrify one of my best friends!" She scolded. Then she turned around and left before Beetlejuice could say anything, or stop her.

After a while, Beetlejuice decided he had to at least enjoy the party; He couldn't just sulk in the bathroom forever. He left, wondering around, trying to think of what to do. Multiple people commented on his 'costume', and he laughed, imagining how they would react if they found out he was really dead.

Beetlejuice couldn't help but notice Josh in the corner, talking to one of his friends. Oh, how he wanted to go over there and teach that punk a lesson; How dare he flirt with his girl! Beetlejuice slowly approached, planning on sneaking up behind him. As he got closer, he could hear snippets of their conversation.

"...Yeah, that'll sure teach that little bitch a lesson. I'm sure she won't care if she already has a boyfriend then!" The asshole laughed, clearly too happy in his sick, messed up fantasies to notice a very angry ghost behind him. Beetlejuice was really going to kick his ass, but he knew Lydia would get angry with him for it. He had to tell her Josh's intentions first. He backed away slowly, resisting the urge to tap Josh on the shoulder, and then punch him in the face once he turned around. The Ghost scanned the room, looking for his Babes. He spotted her over by the refreshments, pouring herself a cup of homemade juice. He sped over as quick as possible.

"Babes, you'll never believe what I just overheard!" Beetlejuice exclaimed, trying not to yell at her.

"What?" Lydia asked, taking a big drink of juice.

"It's Josh! I overheard him telling his buddy over there that... um…" Beetlejuice trailed off. He had been so angry that Josh had threatened Lydia, he hadn't heard what he said he was going to do. "Well, to be honest, I'm not sure what they're going to do, but I know they're planning something! You gotta kick him out, Lyds!"

Lydia's eyes narrowed. "Ha, ha, Beetlejuice. I get it, you don't like him. But he's still my friend and you need to stop."

"Look, Babes, I know you're mad about earlier, and the whole scaring you thing is annoying you, but-" Lydia interrupted him.

"Oh, so this is about you trying to scare me? Are you really trying to get rid of my friends, just so you can scare me? I thought that was just a stupid game, so why do you have to go on and on about this?"

"No, Lyds, you don't understand." Beetlejuice tried to explain. "I-"

"No, I think I do understand, and you know what? I'm sick of it." Lydia said angrily. "You know that I've been looking forward to this party for a couple months now, so the fact that you'd try to destroy it just to 'scare me' is really awful." With every sentence, Lydia got madder and louder, until everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her. "Beetlejuice, get out."

"Babes-"

"Get. Out."

Beetlejuice sighed, noticing a weird smell. If she really wanted him to leave, he would. He walked out the door of the apartment, feeling the eyes of the guests follow him as he softly shut the door. He sighed, and leaned against it for a second. What should he do? He could picture the look on Lydia's face if he did anything; Her glare would literally be the death of him. Well, second death, anyways.

Beetlejuice started walking down the stairs. He knew he should probably just head back to the Neitherworld, but something deep inside of him was stopping him from leaving. He ultimately decided to go for a walk, staying close to the apartment complex just in case something were to happen. He really didn't want to leave Lydia, but she was in a room full of people. And even if Lydia didn't believe him, she wasn't an idiot; She'd be on her guard, and wouldn't go anywhere with Josh alone.

...At least, Beetlejuice hoped.

Even if Josh did try anything, he'd be dead where he stood. Beetlejuice already wanted to kill him as it was; If he did anything to Lydia, Beetlejuice would kill him, and then find his ghost and have it exorcised. It might sound a bit intense, but Beetlejuice was in love, and that was probably the only thing in his (after)life that he took seriously. 

As Beetlejuice rounded the corner, coming back up to the apartment building, there was a crowd of people coming out of the door. Confused, he looked closer, and saw smoke coming from an open window.

_...That's Lydia's room!_

Beetlejuice teleported over to the crowd, recognizing Lydia's guests, one by one as he searched the faces. These were definitely the people who were at her party, but where was Lydia? Beetlejuice recognized the back of a certain bad-boy styled head of hair. He tapped him on the shoulder.

"What do you want?" Asked Josh, turning around and looking at Beetlejuice with disgust.

"Where's Lydia?!" Beetlejuice asked, worried.

"How should I know? Who even are you? What-" Beetlejuice put his hands on the asshole's shoulders and shook him roughly.

"Where's Lydia??" Josh just stared at him wide-eyed. Beetlejuice released his grip on the young man's shoulders, and looked up at the windows. He could see bright orange light coming out. That was definitely not good. He wasted no time and immediately flew into the building, taking the steps two and three at a time. Once he reached her floor, he threw open the door. This turned out to be a huge mistake, as there was fire everywhere, and holy shit he couldn't breathe! Beetlejuice stumbled for a moment, before remembering he was a ghost and couldn't really die from smoke inhalation.

...Right?

Regardless, it was the least of his concerns, as Lydia was in here somewhere, trapped. He had to get there... he had to get to her before she... before she…

No... he refused to think like that... he had...had to get to her...to her...he...

Beetlejuice swayed on his feet, his entire body sweaty immensely, pain everywhere, his vision blurring.

No, no, this couldn't be happening! He was the Ghost With the Most... and he had to find her... and... and…

_Lydia…_

Beetlejuice thought, before the ground was rushing at him, and the world went black.

~~~

Lydia wasn't entirely sure what was happening. It was all so fast. One moment, she was upstairs, upset about how she had to kick Beetlejuice out, and the next there was smoke everywhere, and they were running down the stairs to get out of the apartment. Lydia watched the flames through the windows in shock, wondering how this ever happened. Why her? Why tonight? Suddenly a thought occurred to her. Beetlejuice had tried to warn her that Josh was planning something, was it possible he had set her apartment on fire? Lydia scanned the crowd for the shaggy haired guy. Once she saw him, she marched over to confront him, but before she could, she overheard his conversation.

"Who was that guy? First of all, that striped outfit was disgusting, and second, who in their right mind would run into the fire? Oh well, guess he's just as stupid as the bitch he was looking for."  
"Yeah, good thing you lit this place up, that'll definitely teach her!"

Lydia couldn't believe it! So it was him after all! And did he say...Beetlejuice ran into the fire?! Lydia took a step forward, forcefully turned Josh around, and punched him square in the face. He fell over, clutching his mouth as blood leaked out in between his fingers. Beetlejuice had definitely taught her how to punch right. He would be proud.

Josh glared up at Lydia.

"You...You crazy bitch!"

"You were right, this bitch did learn a lesson. I learned not to trust assholes like you ever again." Lydia said, looking him directly in the eyes. Sure, she was shorter, but that had never stopped her before. As soon as her epic line was delivered, Lydia turned and ran into the now-burning building. She ran up the stairs as fast as her short legs could take her, stopping in the doorway to her apartment to throw her arms over her face. There was fire everywhere.

"B-beetlejuice!" She tried to shout, but it came out as more of a wheeze. She couldn't breathe, everything hurt, where was Beetlejuice??

Suddenly she saw a figure on the ground. She stumbled closer, and to her horror it was the striped outfit of her boyfriend that was laying down. Lydia rushed over and practically fell to the ground next to him. His face was covered in ash, and he was unconscious.

"B-Beej…" She sobbed, struggling to pick him up. In the end, she ended up half-dragging him through the burning living room, supporting his weight by wrapping one of his arms around her body. She swayed a little, trying not to pass out. If she passed out now, they would both die. Well, he was already dead, so she wasn't sure what would happen, but she knew it wouldn't be good. She had to keep going, had to make it out.

They were only a few steps from the doorway to the staircase when part of the roof collapsed, blocking the only way out. All of Lydia's body was screaming in pain, from burns, and from trying to carry a man almost twice her size. She couldn't breathe. God, they weren't going to make it out, were they? This was the end. This was it. She would never get to apologize to Beetlejuice for not believing him, or for kicking him out. They were going to die. Lydia slowly sank to the ground, gently setting Beetlejuice down.

"B-Beetlejuice, please…" She whispered, sobbing as she lay her head on his chest. "Please, if t-there's anything Y-you can do, please...p-please…" Lydia took a shaky, smoke filled breath. "I-I'm scared! I-I don't wanna die, I d-don't want you to die!" Lydia squeezed her eyes shut tight. At least she wouldn't be alone, she'd be dying with the only person who has ever truly understood her.  
Suddenly there was silence. The sound of the fire was gone. Just…silence. Lydia slowly opened her arms to see that Beetlejuice was smiling weakly up at her.

"Got ya."

"Wh-What?? You're okay!" Lydia threw her arms around Beetlejuice, sobbing. "I-I thought you were going t-to die!"

"Babes, I'm already dead!" Beetlejuice laughed, but his laughter soon turned into a cough. He sat up and clutched his chest, coughing awfully. Lydia finally looked around, realizing with awe that the fire and smoke was all completely gone. Her apartment looked exactly like it had right before it was ignited.

"Wh-What happened?" Lydia asked, helping Beetlejuice up as he winced and leaned into her.

"Well, I don't really know. I saw the apartment was on fire, and you weren't there in the crowd. I knew if you were stuck in here I had to get you out. Then I blacked out, and woke up to you admiting you were scared…" He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes. "But, really, I was scared. I don't know what I would do without you, I-I-"

"BJ, you stupid blind idiot!" Lydia cried, pulling him into a hug. "I was there in the crowd the whole time! If you had opened your eyes, you would've seen me!" She held him close. "Besides, you can't go rushing into fires just because you can't see me! What would I have done if you died??"

"Lydia, that's the whole reason I had to do it! I don't wanna go on without you! What would I have done if you died?! I...I love you, Babes!" Beetlejuice blurted before he could stop himself. 

"Do...uh...Do you love me too?"

"Oh, BJ, do you even have to ask? Of course I love you, how could I not?"

After a few moments of making out and enjoying the fact that neither one of them was dead, a thought occurred to Lydia.

"By the way, I thought you'd like to know that I punched Josh straight in the mouth, called him an asshole, and made an epic comeback to something he said to me." Lydia grinned at her proud boyfriend. "Oh, yeah, and I'm pretty sure I broke a tooth or two."

"Wow, Lyds, I'm proud. I taught you right!" They fistbumped. "I just wish I could've been there to see it!"

"Nope, you were too busy running into a fire. Very recklessly, might I add." Beetlejuice laughed.

"Any time for you, Babes."


End file.
